The Skull Eclipses Ready Debut LP

The Skull Eclipses is the collaborative mantle of Austin producer Spencer Stephenson and Philadelphia emcee Raj Haldar, known respectively as Botany and Lushlife. While Botany is known for his devotional, free-jazz-influenced sample-based music, and Lushlife for hip-hop, together they have created a darker record that musically pays homage to the late '90s and early '00s, with jungle, breakbeat, drum & bass, trip-hop, and electronic. We're told that the project is "more than just a one-plus-one combination of their individual sounds." This self-titled LP will be the duo's first offering.

Broadly, The Skull Eclipses LP is a post-hip-hop album that harmonizes tropes of mid-90s electronic genres—ambient, downtempo, jungle, and trip-hop—under a hauntological umbrella. Up close, however, the album is "a peek into the shadows by two figures who are not content with blending into the tapestry of modern music."

The title The Skull Eclipses was originally given to a demo that Stephenson sent Haldar in 2014, but it quickly became apt for the darker subject matter and emotional tone.